Debates can and will be had about the magnitude of Arizona State and Utah’s budding rivalry. Since Utah and Colorado joined the Pac-12 in 2011, the Sun Devils and Utes have met nine times. Few of the matchups have been close – only two of the contests have been decided by one possession – but plenty have been chippy.
The parallels between Arizona State’s 2019 and 2021 seasons are noticeable. Both iterations of Sun Devil football teams began the season 5-1, and both teams were and will be tasked with going on the road – as a ranked program – to Salt Lake City to play Utah in the seventh game of their schedule. The previous trip for Arizona State was disastrous.
Utah feasted on a young, inexperienced Sun Devil offensive line, holding a freshman Jayden Daniels to a career-low 4 of 18 passing for 25 yards and an interception. Adding to the frustrations, the 17th-ranked Sun Devils committed 12 penalties for 122 yards, falling 21-3 to the 13th-ranked Utes.
“Emotion plays a big part of college football,” Edwards said as a Sun Devil squad that has struggled with penalties throughout the first half of this season prepares for another trip to a hostile environment at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Utah will be playing at home for the first time since the passing of Aaron Lowe. The Utes traveled to Texas Monday for the funeral of the sophomore cornerback. “You don’t want to be emotional. You see it every week. Teams get emotional, and they put themselves in a bad way; bad things happen. Fouls, turnovers and they lose games.
“You want to be passionate, but you don’t want to be emotional. When you get emotional and turn the emotional switch on, you’re headed down the wrong avenue.”
Arizona State’s first-half performance against Stanford was an encouraging sign. Friday’s contest with the Cardinal saw the Sun Devils commit just one penalty, which was declined. In each of ASU’s three Pac-12 games, the penalty total has gone down by one a game.
While penalties have gone up, opponents’ scoring has gone down in second halves throughout the year. Defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce and the Sun Devils have adjusted and made strides for success following early first-half drives. The Cardinal scored their lone touchdown on the second possession of the night before ASU held them scoreless in the second quarter and to just 3 points in the second half.
“There’s always some things that you hold back. I think our defense has done a nice job in the second half of closing games out,” Edwards said. In the first six games, the Sun Devils have held opponents to 26 second-half points. “What I liked about them last week is they took the ball away. That’s been our mentality since we’ve been here. We take the ball away. When you can take it away and give it to your offense, you create possessions for your offense.”
End-arounds have been among the most successful trick plays in a series of successful wrinkles to offensive coordinator Zak Hill’s scheme. Twice in the first three conference games, Hill has dialed up a play to get freshman wide receiver Elijhah Badger the ball with blockers in space. Both carries have gone for touchdowns of 21 and 22 yards each.
“We’ve been fortunate in two times he’s 2 for 2,” Edwards said. “That’s a pretty good batting number, average. He’s talented, no doubt. As I’ve said before, he reminds me a lot of Brandon Aiyuk with the ball in his hands. He can make people miss.
“When you have a receiver like that, you want to get him the ball. We’ve gotta find ways to get him the ball a little more in the passing game, but it’s hard because when I look back at that game, we ran it for almost 44 times or something like that.”
The fine line for Edwards between playing keep away with the offense and letting Daniels cook has become a sensitive subject for ASU. When the offense stalls out, Daniels’s ability as a passer and the effectiveness of the run game make it easy for there to be second-guessing.
“We’re not saying we don’t want to pass because we have a really good quarterback, and we feel like we have some really good receivers,” Edwards said, “and the tight ends are playing well. It’s just hard to spread it around sometimes. I always say, ‘you’ve gotta get more plays,’ and when you get more plays, you get more opportunities. Sometimes we’ve hit some big plays, and we don’t get as many opportunities.”
Edwards was less declarative than in previous weeks about Arizona State’s injury situation, saying the Sun Devils are hopeful that cornerback Chase Lucas, safety Evan Fields, and defensive end Michael Matus would each be available against Utah. Lucas left the Stanford contest with a back contusion after making a tackle on the only touchdown scoring drive for the Cardinal.
Matus was dressed in street clothes with a brace on his knee Friday, and Fields played in the first half and parts of the third quarter against the Cardinal before exiting the contest.
Following the 28-10 win over Stanford – and once again Monday – Edwards was asked about where his program was at and how it compares to his preseason expectations. The former prognosticator himself flipped the question on the media and said outside expectations are not his to bother with.
“If you know me by now, it’s not about my expectations. It’s their team. It’s their expectations,” the fourth-year head coach said of the Sun Devils, who sit at 3-0 atop the Pac-12 South. “This belongs to the players. What do they want to accomplish? They are sitting in position to do whatever they want to accomplish. That’s always the conversation that I have with them. I can give them a road map, but they’ve got to drive the car. I’ve never seen a coach go play.”
Arizona State and Utah remain the only two unbeaten teams in conference play for the Pac-12. Edwards has said the media would claim which games are the big ones, but a division showdown with the Utes figures to be one that will shape the season.
“This group of guys, I know what their mentality is,” Edwards said a third of the way through the conference schedule. An Edwards-led ASU team had never won its conference-opener, let alone its first three Pac-12 games. “They want to continue to win a game, and the most important game is the one this week. It never changes. Don’t get ahead of yourselves; you don’t need to.”
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